Benefit to aid family of girl who died of cancer

WEST MILFORD — Makenzie Florence Hooke, age 9, of Highland Lakes, was diagnosed with atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer, in early March. On June 2, she passed away surrounded by her family.

“It’s a brain cancer that attacks the central nervous system,” Kristie Hooke, Makenzie’s aunt, said of her niece’s disease. Eventually the cancer spread from Makenzie’s brain to her spine.

She was in the hospital for almost three months, Hooke said, noting that Makenzie had gone through various surgeries and chemotherapy treatments before dying.

“It just wasn’t enough,” she said.

On Saturday, to raise money for her family and their medical expenses, a fundraiser in Makenzie’s memory will be held at The Mountain Rest Inn in West Milford from noon to 4 p.m.

“All the money that we’re raising is going to go to her family,” Hooke said.

The event, which has a $25 cover donation, will have a cash bar, food, raffles and entertainment. The Tri State Rockers Band will provide music.

“We made it kid friendly,” Hooke said of the event. Children will be able to get their faces painted and have their pictures drawn by a caricature artist, among other activities.

Though Hooke did not know the amount of Makenzie’s medical expenses, she said that people she knows who have gone through similar diseases have ended up with medical bills ranging in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, even with medical insurance.